Professional Recognition and Service Effectiveness of Teachers in Public Elementary Schools

This study examined the professional recognition and service effectiveness of public elementary school teachers in Caraga District, Division of Davao Oriental during the 2025-2026 school year. It used a quantitative descriptive-correlational design with 147 teacher-respondents selected through convenience sampling from 12 public elementary schools. Data were gathered through a validated researcher-made questionnaire that measured professional recognition in terms of obligation, truthfulness, admiration, sympathy, and communal accountability, as well as service effectiveness in terms of teamwork, decision-making, resources, and communication. The instrument showed high reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.97 for both scales. Results showed that professional recognition was high overall (M = 3.65, SD = 0.54), with communal accountability receiving the highest domain mean (M = 4.00, SD = 0.55) and admiration the lowest (M = 2.99, SD = 0.65). Service effectiveness was moderate overall (M = 3.32, SD = 0.58), with resources obtaining the highest domain mean (M = 3.72, SD = 0.57) and decision-making the lowest (M = 2.91, SD = 0.65). Professional recognition had a strong, positive, and significant relationship with service effectiveness (r = 0.802, p = 0.000). Regression analysis further showed that obligation, truthfulness, admiration, sympathy, and communal accountability significantly predicted service effectiveness, with the model explaining 66% of the variance (R = 0.81, R2 = 0.66, F = 92.45, p = 0.000). The findings indicate that recognition-related professional values are central to teacher service delivery and may guide school leaders in strengthening support systems that promote ethical practice, collaboration, sound judgment, resource use, and communication in public elementary schools.